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breathing
fire.
a love note to our supporters
march & april 2015
www.getlit.org
Words ignite at the Classic Slam,
Women in the World, Festival of Books, Turnaround Arts, Arts Day, Library of Congress, & beyond!
THE CLASSIC SLAM!
APRIL 30 & MAY 1, 40 schools from all over Southern California gathered downtown at
the LA THEATRE CENTER for the largest youth classic poetry festival in the nation.
Over 200 teens faced off with classic poems and original spoken word responses,
and the four highest‐scoring teams were chosen: CLEVELAND, HARVARD WESTLAKE, JOHN R. WOODEN, & VIP!
MAY 2, the final four assembled at the
WILSHIRE EBELL THEATER for the Grand Slam, hosted by poets BEAU SIA & SIERRA DEMULDER (Get Lit's Spring Artist‐In‐Residence), with music by DJ JEDI. The esteemed judges included author Rebecca Woolf, producer/writer Jane Anderson,
and poets Francisco Alarcon, John Hensley, and Tonya Ingram. VALLEY INTERNATIONAL PREP went home victorious, VIVYANA from Alhambra
took the shorty round, and KHAMAL from Cleveland was the highest scoring poet of
the night! Micro‐scholarships were awarded in the amounts of $250 and $500, and
thousands of friends, family, and fans came out to support the poets.
BRAVO to all who performed!
Click HERE to see photos.
WOMEN IN THE WORLD
Get Lit Player MARQUESHA BABERS opened the WOMEN IN THE WORLD summit at
Lincoln Center alongside Hillary Clinton, Angelina Jolie, and other global icons. She
performed her poem, "That Girl," and was interviewed by actress Mamie Gummer
about overcoming life's struggles and never giving up. Get Lit Players ZARIYA,
BELISSA & RHIANNON performed their manifesto for
the new DOVE campaign #ChooseBeautiful, published HERE.
You can watch Marquesha's
performance in the New York Times online HERE and her moving call‐to‐action HERE.
You can also check out our photo album from the thrilling weekend of woman‐power.
THE LA TIMES
FESTIVAL OF BOOKS
Did you come visit our booth at the Festival of Books at USC? We performed all weekend
long and sold our brand new album, our POET shirts, our Rumi bumper stickers, and some
other poetry‐themed swag! If you want to make a purchase, e‐mail us at info@getlit.org!
Thank you to everyone who listened, supported, performed in our impromptu cyphers, watched us on the Poetry Stage, and donated to get us to BRAVE NEW VOICES in Atlanta!!!
Check out videos and photos from the festival HERE and be sure to post a photo of yourself
in your POET shirt with the hashtag #LiteraryRiot !
TURNAROUND ARTS
We are thrilled to announce that our first class of sixth graders have completed the Get Lit curriculum at KING ELEMENTARY in Compton!
We are honored to be working with Turnaround Arts, a program led by the President's Committee on Arts & Humanities to lift low‐performing schools through arts education. For more information about Turnaround Arts, click HERE!
Thank you to Ms. Copeland and Ms. Bravo for being such amazing ambassadors of the
program! King was our first Turnaround school, and we've now expanded to Barton
Elementary in San Bernardino, where the class will be taught by actress & activist Natalie Geld, assisted by Get Lit Players Marquesha Babers and Zach Perlmuter. We
will be expanding to even more Turnaround Arts schools in the Fall. ARTS DAY LA
Get Lit Players RAUL HERRERA & GORDON IP performed alongside Grammy‐winning
songwriter ALOE BLACC and LA Poet Laureate LUIS RODRIGUEZ at Arts for LA's ARTS DAY 2015! The celebration took place during a widely attended city council meeting hosted by
COUNCILMEMBER MITCH O'FARRELL, the purpose being to honor the arts'
contribution to Los Angeles and the city's appreciation of its artists. Thank you to everyone who makes LA a more gorgeous place to see, hear, and feel!
We salute you.
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS
GLPs Belissa, Rhiannon and Zariya traveled to Washington, D.C. in March to perform on
the legendary radio program "THE POET & THE POEM" at The Library of Congress. Listen to the episode HERE!
They also featured at historic venue BUSBOYS & POETS, named for Langston Hughes'
humble start, to raise money for the PACIFICA RADIO ARCHIVES vault!
Andrea Spero, Grace Cavalieri & Brian DeShazor, thank you for hosting us. COLLEGE BOUND!
"You are bigger than this." Sierra DeMulder
Our senior Get Lit Players are graduating high school and going onto bright futures!
Seanan will be attending SAN FRANCISCO STATE, Anais will be traveling up north to
HUMBOLDT STATE, Tashi will be welcomed at CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE, and Kyland
has been accepted to the UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO! We are so proud of these senior Get Lit Players, and we wish them strength and passion in their journeys ahead.
THANK YOU
Thank you to our Executive Board:
Gary Romoff, Patricia Garza, Leonora Horwin, Diane Luby Lane, Dr. Seniora Matthews, Paul Jablon, Alex Trivas, Eric Brown, Ellen Picataggio & Jill Rosenthal. *
Thank you to our Advisory Board:
Jimmy Santiago Baca
Ned Colletti
Carol Muske‐Dukes
Brad Koepenick
Ed Pearl
Tim Robbins
Luis Rodriguez
Malissa Feruzzi Shriver
Rebecca Woolf
*
Thank you to the Get Lit Staff: Diane Luby Lane, Karen Redman, Amanda Pittman, Veronika Shulman,
Paul Mabon, Matthew Cuban, Raul Herrera, & Alyesha Wise.
And a huge thank you to our donors, parents, teachers & students! Farewell to our glorious Artist‐in‐Residence, Sierra DeMulder...we will miss you!
*
Thank you to everyone who welcomed and supported us in the past two months: the MUSE
Conference, the Legislative Women's Caucus, the Getty House, Sheryl Sandberg, Malissa Ferruzzi
Shriver, Turnaround Arts, LAANE.org, ONE.org, Tina Brown & Kyle Gibson, Linda Goldstein Knowlton,
Glenn Kalison & Erin Buckley at Relativity School, CSU Monterey Bay, Saint Louis University, Joshua
Silverstein, Lindsay Halladay, Amber Riley, and every school that graciously hosted a BLITZ!
*
Join the movement! Facebook, Twitter & Instagram: @GetLitPoet.
To support Get Lit with a donation, click HERE .
HAPPY SUMMER!
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